so roughly 4 months to go. this is what ive done, and plan on doing, can someone who passed L3 try and give some advice in terms of my study strategy. This weekend I just finished reading through all the schweser notes. I did NOT do the end of chapter questions, I read through, while underlining and making quick notes on the side pages about some important topics etc. So now this is my plan for the next few months: -Start back and highlight my notes, only focusing on stuff I underlined and take written notes on important forumlas, topics, to make a quick secret sauce on my own. This should take about 3 weeks. ( To end of March) - Go back to beginning, briefly read through the highlghted material and then do the end of chapter questions in schweser notes. ( First 3 weeks of Apil ) - Do the 2 Schweser practice exam books ( Last week of april, forst 2 weeks of May) - Do the CFAI end of chapter questions and old practice exams ( Last 2 weeks of May) -Study Quicksheet, Secret sauce and order the CFAI practice exams ( The week before the exam/First week June) - On the subway/random free time, i am reviewing the book 0 summary and the quicksheet to drill in the concepts and important points What would you guys who have passed L3 do different? I did the baove for L1 and L2 and it worked fine. I can truly blame my switching to CFAI notes for L3 last june the reason i failed it and have now switched back to schweser.
Don’t forget to do the past LIII exams.
I would recommend making an offering to the great spirit of RR/TTLLU. Maybe a bottle of Johnny Walker. Your plan looks sound, I’l being doing much the same.
3 months to go BTW, not 4.
I’d combine your imminent Schweser run through with the Schweser concept checkers and the end of section CFAI questions. The last two weeks in May is too late for the CFAI questions. Obviously learn and review as much as you can, but nothing will be more important to your pass or fail than being able to navigate the morning session. So you need to be as prepared as possible to take those former exams and mocks, because the morning is as much about your test-taking efficiency / wisdom as your knowledge. If you’re using the exams just to see your weak areas and not to improve your test-taking skills, than you’re a step behind. Of course, time every exam to the second to see how you’re stacking up. Oh and save the 2008 exam for the weekend before the real thing. Let us know how it goes. My goal was to take my first morning session exam (which was the morning exam from 2005) on the morning of the NFL Draft, which is in late April. Your mileage may vary.
Hey Frisian, I was contemplating doing the end of chapter schweser questions during my slated next 3 weeks of highlighting, but Doing the questions right after reading/highlighting seems like cheating since the info is fresh in your mind and not really challenging myself. Plus, it was an easy way of procrastinating from doing real work. I know in June after the exam I will be saying to myself ( " I should have studied more") and this post will haunt me !!!
I think if you make good use of the next 4 months and well prepared to take the exam in early July, you should be fine.
IH8FSA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Doing the questions right after > reading/highlighting seems like cheating since the > info is fresh in your mind and not really > challenging myself. Challenging yourself and your knowledge under time pressure are the purpose of the old morning exams, the Schweser practice exams, and the CFAI mocks. The CFAI end of section questions can be very tricky even if you just read the thing.
No use of Schweser Pro??? I think that has been the most helpful for me in terms of multiple choice questions, etc. It is a good mix and helps me write down things that I miss or keep forgetting, and after doing a bit of them, you can zero in where you need the most work.
know the schweser guides back and forth. They do an excellent job of answering the LOS. When you are unclear of an LOS, then delve into the CFAI texts. know all of the end of chapter CFAI questions. Don’t just do them once. Do them multiple times until you have them down. They aren’t as difficult as the exam, yet they are more difficult than the schweser guides and the best that you have right now. Take the schweser class if it comes to your area. In May, focus on the schweser practice tests and AM test under timed scenarios. Really pull apart the AM tests and compare them. The key to the AM section is the first question. You need to be able to answer the PM question quickly and easily. This will give you extra time for the other AM questions (time which you will need). You need to understand how to calculate the pre/post tax rate of return. Studying the main question on the old AM tests is key. I didn’t find the online $50 tests that much help. All it did was scare the crap out of me. I would prefer just to do the Schweser tests. If you score 80% or better on these tests, I think you will be in good shape. Also, in May, I read one schweser guide per day for review. I already knew the material in these books and could cruise through it quickly.
anyone think secret sauce is worth it if doing just CFAI as main studying?
Jackson Sf I didn’t find the online $50 tests that much help. All it did was scare the crap out of me. I would prefer just to do the Schweser tests. If you score 80% or better on these tests, I think you will be in good shape. I failed L3 last time, and I put way too much emphasis on those Schweser ones because i had this stupid mentality of " Oh CFA wants to award those who purchased these exams by giving them an extra boost", but they were absolutely useless, since these were the last things I did I got a false sense of confidence from them. I thin your right, I think I will use that time and instead drill down the past AM exams instead.
IH8FSA, I failed L3 in 2005, then I passed it in 2006. I took one online CFA exam and got a 50% in 2006. I didn’t like the online exam because (1) I couldn’t skip questions and (2) I couldn’t print out the questions and answers for review after the exam. I guess that it is a decent barometer of where you are at, yet shouldn’t I be able to print it out? Anyways, I was scoring near 90% on schweser and ended up really doing well on the exam. I just don’t know how much value the online $50 tests are other than to either make you feel good or scare the crap out of you. They definitely scared the crap out of me and I gave up on them. I will tell you that when I took the online exam it made me think of the 2005 exam when I felt like someone hit me with a 2x4. I didn’t want to feel that way ever again. Thank goodness I passed. On the AM exams, compare and contrast the first question on each of the exams. This question is typicall 45 minutes long on developing an IPS for a soccer star (the 2006 question) or some individual. Figure out what needs to be in cash (t-bills) and pull it out of the total income. Then calculate the rate of return. Try doing pre-tax and after-tax calculations. Early on, CFAI was all over the board with the IPS questions…there was room for students to answer the questions differently. By 2006, CFAI had really refined the questions. They aren’t the same each year, yet there is a method to crank out the answers quickly. By comparing the old exams, you will come up with a method. For instance, pre tax, post tax. You need to be able to see it in the question and then calculate your answer based on it. Should you use pre-tax or after-tax cash flows or should you just adjust your answer at the very end. Are there cash flow needs early? Just study the old tests and you will be fine.
DO THE PAST AM EXAMS!!!..know them inside and out…they will be pretty darn close to what you will see come gameday Time management is so key in the AM to make sure you get all the questions finished…don’t do what I did and write too much for the IPS questions
DO THE PAST AM EXAMS!!!..know them inside and out…they will be pretty darn close to what you will see come gameday Time management is so key in the AM to make sure you get all the questions finished…don’t do what I did and write too much for the IPS questions
agree with Bill on the past AM exams. Just work especially on the first question. If you can cut this question down from 45 minutes to 15 minutes, then you will have sufficient time to do the rest of the AM questions. They key is knocking the first one out of the park quickly. By understanding all of the previous AM tests and comparing the first question, you will be able to quickly understand what they are looking for and answer the question. I pity the people who don’t study the old AM exams. It can mean life or death on the exam.
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I would definitely do the end-of-chapter plus examples now rather than later. It’s better to reinforce the concepts by doing those problems, and understanding the solutions.
Bill.S.Preston,Esq Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > DO THE PAST AM EXAMS!!!..know them inside > and out…they will be pretty darn close to what > you will see come gameday > > Time management is so key in the AM to make sure > you get all the questions finished…don’t do what > I did and write too much for the IPS questions If I were to give only one piece of advice on Level 3 it would be what Bill.S.Preston,Esq wrote above… the past am exams will give you a great sense for what it is like to try to do these essay questions on exam day. They take up a lot of time and require practice. I sat for the exam last year and many of my peers simply could not finish the am session.
The biggest thing I would recommend changing in your plan is that saving the CFAI end of chapter questions until the last two weeks is too tight a deadline to remember anything. They actually take a lot of time and they are vital. Someone last year mentioned doing them twice, which I thought was really excessive, but by the end, I understood that it was actually a really good idea. Also a Schweser course is highly recommended. One thing that I found especially helpful was that the teacher was available for questions after the class, so I emailed him about 10 questions in the remaining weeks before the test when I realized that I didn’t understand something. Finally, I would disagree with the idea that the online tests are not helpful. They are flawed because you can’t skip questions, etc., but they are the only accurate reflection of what the afternoon material will really be like. The Schweser practice tests are better than nothing but are significantly off the mark in terms of difficulty and the style of how the questions will actually be formulated.